In Bilbao, football retains a sense of the sacred, with both heritage and passion unmatched anywhere on the globe… a city where winning is secondary to simply being, as Hugh MacDonald discovers

Athletic Bilbao 1 Villarreal 2

The view from Artxanda carries a definitive glimpse of history and culture as well as beauty.

The funicular takes the pain from the climb, leaving one fresh to focus on a wondrous sight. Bilbao lies at one’s feet. It is impossible to avoid eye contact with a football past.

Yes, there is the Guggenheim Museum, glittering in the sun, but that only serves to remind football viewers that this was once the spot where the sport gained a foothold in the Basque country. 

La Campa de los Ingleses is a shrine to football in the city but there are three of them: one at the old quay, a park near the Guggenheim, and a restaurant in the San Mames stadium.

The river Nervion gives the museum a sidestep and advances to an area where ancient cranes still survive and there is the detritus of an industrial past. It is a reminder of the days late in the nineteenth century when British dockers and sailors would play football, sparking the formation of Athletic Club de Bilbao in 1898. It is also the river where the club’s players traditionally take to a barge to celebrate great victories.

San Mames, the cathedral of Bilbao football, nestles in a slight curve. It is as bold and distinctive as its river neighbour, the Guggenheim. Many supporters of Los Leones would insist too that it is far more important to the culture of the city.

The first stadium, replaced by the present one in 2016, was built near a church called San Mames. It was named after a man called Mammes, confusingly the right spelling, who was thrown to the lions by the Romans.

San Mames and football itself retain a sense of the sacred. Mammon has made its inroads. Punters en route to San Mames can drink beer from taps bedecked in red and white. Crisps carry the imprint of Athletic Club and bottles of water have the club emblem.

There are more blunt nods towards history. There are stickers everywhere proclaiming ‘All Iron’ or ‘Aliron, Aliron’. One theory is that this refers to Basque miners finding pure ore and relaying this news to the British engineers by shouting the phrase.

Many of the stickers refer, too, to Mr Pentland. His story is bizarre and must be told briefly. Fred Pentland, a former prisoner of war in the 1914-18 conflict, came to Bilbao in 1922 and changed the way football was played in Spain. He was an adherent to the passing style of the Scotch Professors, the football revolutionaries of the late 19th century, and had his own peculiarities.

He allowed his players to jump over his bowler hat after every victory. They did a lot of jumping, becoming the first side to win consecutive doubles.

‘We still remember Mr Pentland,’ says Ignacio, sipping beer at a bar close to the ground. ‘The stories here are passed down through family. We know history and much of it revolves around the football club. It is a big part of Basque identity.’

The passion of Athletic Bilbao supporters is unique and colourful and delightful to witness

He adds: ‘It is good you wear the shirt.’ I am squeezed into a replica shirt from 1898. Most Spanish clubs wore replica shirts this weekend. La Liga director Jaime Blanco said it was an opportunity to tap into the history and traditions of the club during Spain’s fashion week. It is also an opportunity to tap into my wallet.

It was appropriate, though, that a Scot was paying his dues. Spanish football has strong links with Scotland, from early Barcelona players to Sevilla being formed by Scots after a Burns’ Supper.

‘You are one of us today,’ says Ignacio.

This pack of Leones has a particular history and shared values. Spanish football has distinct stories. Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal, the opponents on the weekend, are examples of this disparity.

‘There could be no bigger contrast between Athletic Club, the most traditional of all Spanish clubs, and Villarreal, an institution that represents an important shift in Spanish football over the past 25 years,’ says Miguel Lourenco Pereira, who has written Pasion (Pitch Publishing).

This is an extraordinary and gripping journey through Spanish football and it illuminates the nuances, sometimes chasms, between clubs.

‘Athletic is all about heritage. The weight of a legacy, a club that was, likely, the most important in Spanish football up until the 1940s, which still represents the Basque identity to the core, is an institution that is less concerned with winning more than being, and that, in itself, is a fascinating way to live the game in 2026,’ he says.

The weekend clash between Athletic and Villarreal was a real contrast of cultures and history

‘Villarreal, on the other hand, was a lower league side with no background whatsoever when they were bought by one of the wealthiest businessmen in Spain, Fernando Roig. He implemented an entrepreneurial culture within the club that quickly outgrew even the place where they came from.

‘Their stadium hosts more people than the ones that actually live there and over the past 25 years they became a fundamental side in the new structure of football in Spain, playing and winning European trophies but, most of all, never overspending, always focusing on youth and understanding that modern football is a business and if you stick to your business model things will work out for you. It’s ironic that Athletic never won a European trophy, and Villarreal did.’

Villarreal won the Europa League in 2021, beating Manchester United in a penalty shoot-out in the final. They sit clear in third place in La Liga after beating Athletic, now 11th, in a smashing match full of quality.

One aspect they do share with Athletic Club is a Celtic supporters’ club. On a Saturday afternoon in Bilbao, a bar in the Old Town resounds to the Bilbao Bhoys celebrating victory over St Mirren. Villarreal, too, have a Celtic supporters club, the bond forged in 2004 after a meeting in European competition and continuing through shared charity work.

Pereira is keen to emphasise the Scottish connections. ‘You know Sevilla FC was formed during Burns’ Night, at a time when several members of the Scottish community living in Seville thought it was time to establish a club in town to play against Recreativo Huelva, who had a British intake due to the mining company operating up the river in Rio Tinto,’ he says.

‘Despite Sevilla then becoming the epitome of Spanish folklore on a football pitch, their roots are Scottish, as is the famed green and white kit of Real Betis, city rivals, imported from Glasgow when one of its founders went to school there and befriended a key figure in Celtic’s conception. One can say that Spain’s biggest local rivalry was actually first drawn from Scottish inspiration on both ends.’

Sergio Cardona is hailed after opening the scoring for a visiting side who sit third in La Liga

Pereira’s interest in Spanish football was born when he was growing up in Portugal. ‘Spain was an hour’s drive,’ he says. ‘I usually got access to Spanish TV on satellite and grew up reading Spanish football magazines, so eventually I was drawn to its football culture early on.

‘In the late 90s the amount of quality players in La Liga was immense and I was able to enjoy many live matches on TV to get to know more about them. When I moved to Madrid in 2006, I was already well into their football culture but then I spent the past 20 years travelling the country, visiting stadiums, learning about different football cultures within the country.’

The results are apparent in Pasion, a work that shines with dedication and sparkles with wonderful tales.

Pasion and passion owe a debt to Scottish football. ‘If you want the full hardcore Spanish football experience, your final destination must be Seville. It doesn’t matter if it Betis or Sevilla, there’s no fandom as passionate and no greater sense of belonging, of football as something bigger than life and death, than the frying pan of Spain,’ he says.

Blessedly, I have experienced this but on a dull Sunday San Mames beckoned. I was not to be disappointed.

The route to San Mames is strewn with bars. The 9pm kick-off ensures that the crowds gather en route from as early as 6pm. It is part of the journey.

Former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte battles with Villarreal’s Tani Oluwaseyi

There have been longer ones. The story of Athletic has a much-mentioned element. The club only plays Basque players. It is not quite as simple as that.

The general rule is that players native to or trained in the Basque country can play for the team. Cynics believe that the borders of the Basque country have been stretched to suit Athletic’s purposes. The sons or daughters (Athletic have women’s teams) of the Basque diaspora also qualify.

However, the main gripe of competing teams in the Basque country — most notably Real Sociedad and Osasuna — is that Athletic take the best from other academies.

Javier Clemente, a legendary coach at the club, has criticised recent recruitment of players who are not specifically from la cantera (academy), saying some players are arriving through a ‘trapdoor’.

This is thought to be a reference to signing players, putting them briefly in the academy and thus claiming they are home-grown.

Immigration, though, has helped the Athletic cause. Inaki and Nico Williams are stunning examples of this. Their parents fled from Ghana in 1993, traversing the Sahara desert to find refuge in Spain. Both players were born in Spain as the country granted their parents asylum. Inaki was born in Bilbao and Nico in Pamplona.

But the recruitment struggles may deepen in years to come. Increasingly, football at elite level has a global catchment area. The dependence on one pool may invite choppier waters.

Nico and Inaki Williams are superstars at Bilbao, where there parents emigrated to from Ghana

This is accepted by many Athletic fans. Sitting in a packed stadium, conversations immediately ensued with neighbours once my guttural West of Scotland tones were heard. Every supporter told me that to be an Athletic fan was not to be a perpetual witness to success. ‘We know it can be a struggle, we know that La Liga title may always be out of reach,’ said one.

The gabarra (barge) was last launched on the Nervion in 2024 to celebrate success in the Copa Del Rey. But Athletic fans are attuned to celebrating the very existence of the club as something central to their lives and culture. It is an admirable trait.

There is a profundity in that but it is immediately followed by that odd moment that routinely occurs to a Scottish football fan abroad. After immersing oneself in Scottish links to the Spanish game, it is still peculiar to hear the question posed by the guy sitting in the next seat.

‘Do you know Peterhead?’ he asks. I reply in the affirmative and he adds that he once worked there ‘when there were fish’. Further enlightenment is restricted by mutual language difficulties.

It is a reminder that much can be discovered on a fitba’ trip but some matters must remain a mystery.